Photos: Ricky Ponting walks off into the sunset

Photos: Ricky Ponting walks off into the sunset

Ricky Ponting raised both arms to acknowledge the crowd at the WACA ground as he said goodbye to cricket on Monday.

South Africa ruined the farewell, though, scoring an emphatic 309-run victory over the Aussies in the third Test to clinch the three-match series 1-0 and cement their position at the top of the ICC Test rankings.

Photos: Ricky Ponting walks off into the sunset

The 37-year-old former Australia captain, the second highest run scorer in test cricket, said on the eve of his 168th match that it would be his last and he had hoped to go out on a high with a series win against the Proteas.

Those hopes had been dashed by two days of brilliant cricket from the best Test side in the world, which left Australia chasing 632 runs over the last two days of the match to secure an unlikely victory.

Photos: Ricky Ponting walks off into the sunset

Ponting, who retired from One-day cricket in February, scored nought in the only innings Australia batted in the first Test against South Africa, four and 16 in the second Test and 4 and 8 in the third.